US, Australia complete Pillar 1 AUKUS submarine maintenance milestone

US and Australian naval personnel finished joint maintenance on the USS Hawaii , marking a milestone for AUKUS Pillar 1. (US Navy)

A team of US Navy (USN) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN) personnel marked a milestone for the Australia, United Kingdom, United States (AUKUS) Pillar 1 security agreement on 10 September with the completion of a maintenance project on the USN Virginia-class attack submarine, USS Hawaii (SSN 776), at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia, USN officials confirmed in a statement released on the same day.

“This is the first time since World War II that the US has conducted submarine maintenance in Australian waters, and certainly the first instance in history of a joint American-Australian team performing maintenance on a nuclear-powered attack submarine,” Rear Admiral Lincoln Reifsteck, USN AUKUS Integration and Acquisition programme manager, said in a statement.

AUKUS Pillar 1 called for RAN personnel assigned to submarine tender USS Emory S Land (AS 39) to work alongside USN counterparts to repair a Virginia-class SSN in Australia during a multiweek Submarine Tendered Maintenance Period, or STMP.

The STMP represents a significant step towards achieving the AUKUS Pillar 1 objective of delivering a sovereign, conventionally armed, nuclear-powered attack submarine capability to Australia, the USN statement noted.

For more information on AUKUS progress, please seeBAE Systems to partner with Australia's ASC for AUKUS submarines .

Emory S Land and Hawaii crews completed routine and emergent maintenance and conducted training that included diving operations to inspect the torpedo tube muzzle doors, towed array system, and the simulated movement of a large pump from within the boat, the USN said. RAN sailors observed the STMP maintenance events.